5/19/13

Invasion of the 'Killer Frogs' and the 'Crazy Ants', Killing Off their Native Cousins



Two stories of species invading the Southwest and killing off their dominate cousins have been making the news in May of 2013. Clawed Frogs with killer fungus and Crazy Aunts bumping off native fire aunts. 


Killer Frogs

SFSU biologist Vance Vredenburg, PhD, who is the lead author of the study on the frog plague, says that a fungus is to blame. It was brought in form clawed African frogs. "California's Yellow frog and an astonishing 40 percent of all frogs worldwide are being drive to extinction in three decades," reports KTVU News. Regarding the Africa Clawed frogs, Doctor Vredenburg states: "They don't even show signs of disease and yet they're infected. What are they doing different than these native species here in California?"

Crazy Ants
"Invasive “crazy ants” are displacing fire ants in areas across the southeastern United States, according to researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. It’s the latest in a history of ant invasions from the southern hemisphere and may prove to have dramatic effects on the ecosystem of the region.
The “ecologically dominant” crazy ants are reducing diversity and abundance across a range of ant and arthropod species — but their spread can be limited if people are careful not to transport them inadvertently, according to Ed LeBrun, a research associate with the Texas invasive species research program at the Brackenridge Field Laboratory in the College of Natural Sciences
The study by LeBrun and his colleagues was published in Biological Invasions.
“When you talk to folks who live in the invaded areas, they tell you they want their fire ants back,” said LeBrun. “Fire ants are in many ways very polite. They live in your yard. They form mounds and stay there, and they only interact with you if you step on their mound.”
LeBrun said that crazy ants, by contrast, “go everywhere.” They invade people’s homes, nest in crawl spaces and walls, become incredibly abundant and damage electrical equipment."
- University of Texas at Austin

Read the rest of this story here: utexas.edu/news

Story source: ktvu.com   

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Canada UFO Sightings on the Rise (VIDEO)


In 2012, 1,981 UFO sightings were reported in Winnipeg Manitoba, and in 2008 there were 1,004 unexplained sightings. Until 2004, UFO sightings were not all that common in Manitoba and the number of reported sightings had suddenly reached the 100 mark. Ontario had 40% of sightings for 2012.



Source: Latest Ufo Sighting.net

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5/18/13

How 'Star Trek' inspired NASA, astronauts and more

“Star Trek: Into Darkness.” (PARAMOUNT PICTURES)
Miriam Kramer
Space.com

The interstellar voyages of the Starship Enterprise have captured imaginations around the world for decades.

Astronauts, movie makers, scientists, engineers and others from all walks of life cite "Star Trek's" science and technology as an influence on their lives and worldview. But why? What makes "Star Trek" the enduring and thrilling science fiction epic it is today?

The optimistic crew led by Captain Kirk in the original series and Jean-Luc Picard in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" gave a science-minded generation an outlet for expression, Dr. Mae Jemison, one of the astronauts inspired by the show said.

"I saw 'Star Trek' the original series as a little girl and for me it was really great because it talked about and it dealt with situations that were going on at the time, but you saw it with a lens of another place, another time, another world, another group of people,"

Story continues: Fox News

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Huge Rock Crashes Into Moon, Sparks Giant Explosion

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Life After Death Project: Forrest J Ackerman's Friends Claim He's Speaking To Them From The Dead


Yellow Hat Productions, Inc
Lee Speigel
Huffington Post

When Forrest J Ackerman was alive, he'd scoff at anyone who would claim they could speak to the dead.

Now that he's dead, some people say he's speaking from the Great Beyond.

Ackerman, who passed away in 2008, is a legend in the sci-fi community, for, among other things, coining the phrase "sci-fi." Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Peter Jackson were among the avid readers of his influential Famous Monsters Of Filmland magazine. He was also co-creator of the popular comic book superheroine Vampirella.

Ackerman was a skeptic in the supernatural. But now, some of his followers believe this dead man is trying to make contact with them.

It all started shortly after his death, when an odd ink blot mysteriously appeared on a sheet of paper at the home of his friend, filmmaker Paul Davids.

Davids had printed out the paper that included a list of business meetings. The ink on the paper was completely dry as he left the room. When he returned, he discovered a black ink blot had somehow covered a group of words, "Spoke to Joe Amodei."

"I had no idea why these particular words were blacked out," Davids told The Huffington Post. "It made no sense to me until later, when I was researching Forry's editorial style and I found lots of examples of where he blacked out words so completely. I have found 15 examples of where Forry found a name within a name or a word within a word as being a hidden word to make a pun or a point out of it."

Davids believes this was the first in a series of unexplained instances where Ackerman was trying to communicate with him. He eventually involved several university scientists to try to explain these phenomena explored in "The Life After Death Project," a documentary that premiered this week on the Syfy channel.

Some might claim Davids' work is more akin to the Syfy channel's fantasy-based programming, perhaps during hour 72 of a "Twilight Zone" marathon. But Davids is dead serious.


 Story continues at: HuffingtonPost.com




Posted by Mark Turner at 5/18/2013 0 comments
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Police Investigate Possible Bigfoot Shooting - or was it a bear?



Cryptomundo, a site dedicated to unusual beasts, has recently posted a lengthy report into a possible Bigfoot shooting that was investigated by the local authorities in Somerset Pennsylvania. The PA Bigfoot Society received an email stating: 
“Today in Somerset county PA a turkey hunter shot and killed an animal he claimed is a Sasquatch. The state police were called and responded to the scene, according to chatter on the local police frequencies the officers confirmed there was an unidentified animal shot and killed. Details are a bit fuzzy at this time. Any investigative assistance would be appreciated.“
The police reported that the prints they found were bear tracks. A photos of the tracks and full report and a radio dispatcher call can be found on the link below.

Story source: Cryptomundo.com

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Huge Rock Crashes Into Moon, Sparks Giant Explosion

This artist's illustration shows a meteor crashing into the surface of the moon
This artist's illustration shows a meteor crashing into the surface of the moon. Scientists say hundreds of space rocks impact the lunar surface every year.
CREDIT: NASA 
Clara Moskowitz
SPACE.com

The moon has a new hole on its surface thanks to a boulder that slammed into it in March, creating the biggest explosion scientists have seen on the moon since they started monitoring it.

The meteorite crashed on March 17, slamming into the lunar surface at a mind-boggling 56,000 mph (90,000 kph) and creating a new crater 65 feet wide (20 meters). The crash sparked a bright flash of light that would have been visible to anyone looking at the moon at the time with the naked eye, NASA scientists say.

"On March 17, 2013, an object about the size of a small boulder hit the lunar surface in Mare Imbrium," Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office said in a statement. "It exploded in a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything we've ever seen before."

Posted by Mark Turner at 5/18/2013 0 comments
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5/17/13

Bloodline of Jesus in America? Audio Interview with H2's Scott Wolter



Geologist Scott Wolter of America Unearthed on H2, has spent over ten years studying the Kensington Runestone and early America's possible pre-Columbus connections to the Nights Templar and the bloodline of Jesus. A fascinating interview from Red Ice Creations.


 
Source: Red Ice Creations

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